This invention relates to an inexpensive carton for collecting and returning deposit containers such as bottles or cans that provides for rapid and accurate redemption of the containers at a store or other suitable collection center.
Many states have recently enacted so-called "bottle laws" designed to curb the littering of their landscapes with unsightly empty bottles and cans. Under the law, a purchaser of bottled or canned beverages pays a deposit upon the container which is later redeemed when the container is returned to the place of sale (store) or a suitable redemption center. All stores selling beverages in containers are required to accept the return of any containers that it sells and refund the deposit.
The stores or redemption centers are further required to separate the containers into various categories such as material, brand names and, in the case of glass containers, color. Many stores insist that the customer separate the beverage containers so that they can be easily counted and sorted with a minumum amount of handling. Because of the general inconvenience involved in the redemption process, many customers elect not to return the deposit containers. Similarly, empty beverage containers are difficult to store and transport. Paper bags, cardboard boxes and other types of cartons have been employed but have proven to be unsatisfactory. For the most part, these cartons are relatively weak and can easily break open when overloaded and/or wet by liquids leaking from the beverage containers. Some of the more easily transported cartons are difficult to load and unload and have a limited carrying capacity. Some prior art cartons for beverage containers are described in greater detail in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
1,487,424, 1,948,041, 2,410,615, 3,111,222, 3,119,546, 3,474,949, 4,535,928.